Brought to Life (A BatIM AU) - Backstory
by Anis5240
Summary: (EDIT: This fic will be the backstory of the AU. The real story of the AU will come soon. Stay tuned! ;D)
1. Prologue

**OK. First words, I'm now into a new fandom and you guess it: B** ** _endy and the Ink Machine._**

 ** _Now don't get mad at me for not updating my RC9GN fics; I do want to but simply can't. I still love RC9GN but in the meantime, I hope you enjoy this AU fic of mine._**

 **Sincerely, EvilRandy. :)**

 **On with the show!**

 **(Line break)**

 ** _June 5, 1966_** *

11.00 pm.

It was raining hard outside.

Most people were in their houses, minding their own business as they waited for the rain to stop. However, someone was doing more than any normal work anyone would do.

Inside one of the dimly lit rooms of the shambled building with the board saying "Joey Drew Studios", a man, perhaps in his early 30s, was standing by what seemed like a giant ink machine, inspecting the device to make sure it was in good condition. After a few minutes, feeling satisfied, he went to the machine's nozzle and knelt down. Picking up a paintbrush and dipped it slightly into a suspiciously looking inkwell (which had the common 'skull and crossbones' sign) beside him, he then carefully drew a rather large pentacle on the wooden floor.

Moments later, he wiped the sweat that trickled onto his forehead and smiled at his finished work. "That should do for now," he spoke; his voice echoed through the room. He took out a few candlesticks from his brown vest's pocket and lit them up with his matches before placing each one at the tip of the pentacle.

"Alright, let's get this whole thing started, Joey," he told himself while rubbing his hands together. Getting up, he jogged out of the room and went to the pedestal room, where the six items needed to activate the Ink Machine were.

Upon arriving at the darkened room, he stopped abruptly and slapped his forehead; he forgot to take along the objects with him. "Curses," he muttered under his breath and went back to the Ink Machine room.

He re-entered the room and picked up the items he had asked from his staff one by one: a wrench, a cogwheel, a book written by himself (titled "The Illusion of Living"), a vinyl record, the inkwell he used earlier and a plush toy in a form of a cartoon demon. He paused at the sight of the plushie and his mouth spread into a weak smile.

"Soon, Bendy, you will be alive, just like me," he said softly as he took the plush toy. The grinning face of it made him chuckle a bit. Why wouldn't he?

 ***flashback***

" **Bendy the Dancing Demon** ". The name for the character he had always loved to draw since he was a young child. Of course, most people mistook it as a cat and he often had to repeat the name over and over again. " _It's not a cat,_ " he once told his friends. " _It's a demon. Bendy the Demon_."

" _Yeah, right. We know that already. Well, good luck with your little cat toon, Joey_ ** _Drew_** ," they would response before bursting into laughter.

" _Just you wait. I will prove to all of you that he is a demon. A very_ ** _nasty_** _one_."

 ***end of flashback***

"This is the day, Bendy. You will be more than just my imagination. Soon, they will know the name 'Joey Drew' and will bow before me!" said the present Joey Drew. "After those years of hardship and challenges, this day has come! You will be brought to life, my little devil darling! You will **come to life**!" With that, he dashed out and raced once again to the pedestal room. He hastily put each item at its respective place and went to restore the ink pressure from the switch inside the projector room.

As he reached the hallway led to the projector room, a certain cartoon cutout suddenly peeked out at the end of the corridor, startling him and made him froze for a moment. "Oh God," he finally whispered and quickly ran along the hallway. He was soon greeted by a large-sized cardboard cutout of Bendy, which was leaning innocently against the wall.

"Sneaky little demon, aren't you?" Joey said and laughed lightly whilst shaking his head. The Bendy cutout continued to pull out its wide toothy grin at him. He then gently pat it before entering the projector room.

If Joey had been much older, such sound like a **VERY LOUD** click of a projector being turned on could have gave him quite a heart attack, especially when the said projector switched on by its own. Luckily, he had been familiar with the "paranormal" activities happening in his studio for recent years, so he wasn't actually shocked when he heard the click. He however, almost cursed in the process.

His smile widened even more as he watched a small clip of his cartoon demon bopping up and down on the screen. He sang softly as he waltzed to the ink pressure switch and pressed it on:

" ** _My little devil darling putting on a dance of coming to life_**

 ** _In which he will be more than just a proof that I'm not a_** ** _moron_**

 ** _He will surprise you in his many ways of devilish gags_**

 ** _Soon people will know me, Joey Drew and his living toon, Bendy the Dancing Demon_** ~"

Joey then hurried back to the pedestal room to pull the main power lever for the Ink Machine to actually work and rushed into the Ink Machine room. He was glad the fire on the candles were still flickering. "Any minute from now," he said happily.

Soon, the room was filled with the creaking of the old pipes that were installed inside the building as ink flowed, the occasional strike of lightning from outside and the sounds of the gears of the Ink Machine roaring to life.

"Arise and hear me, my gods! I have done everything for this ritual to complete! Now, allow this creature of a demon come to existence!" said Joey Drew. A flash of lightning broke into the sky and the loud grumble of the thunder that followed suit was heard as he chanted the words.

Suddenly, his ears caught the faint chime of the clock tower nearby and his eyes widened: it was midnight.

"Midnight," he uttered subconsciously. "Midnight. June 6, 1966."

A bang shook him out of his thoughts and he was astounded to see the Ink Machine was spewing ink out of its nozzle and more;

 **The sight of a small figure began to rise from the ink puddle inside the pentacle he drew earlier.**

Joey could only stare in both horror and fascination as it slowly to take the form of the character he cherished the most and he almost broke into sheer joy.

"That's it, Bendy! Come to me! My gods, you have finally heard me!" he cried with such emotion. "Come to your creator! I've been waiting for you all along!" He held out his hand and the figure did the same; he could feel an almost solid grip on his hand and didn't seem to care that it was starting to be stained with ink.

Another lightning zapped into the dark sky and all of sudden, the ink figure was disintegrating. "No," said Joey, now in pure shock. "No! Bendy, come back! Please! I need you!" But it went on crumpling back into the ink puddle and he swore he could hear a hoarse voice saying his name before falling apart, leaving him staring at the puddle for the longest time he could remember.

"No," he finally spoke. "NO!" He slammed his fist onto the wooden repeatedly. Not only his experiment failed, but his spirit of seeing his own cartoon alive (literally) was diminished as fast as it came. "Why must you do this to me, my gods?" Tears began forming at the corner of his eyes and he sobbed as he continued, "Am I not good enough for this? Or simply because he is a demon?"

Joey went on lamenting about his life and everything that happened within the studio (and pretty much everything). "I guess I am a loony after all, trying to create a living toon," he whispered. He then slowly got up and brushed the tears on his face with his arm. "Goodbye, Bendy," he gazed at the ink puddle and went to leave the room, his studio and his passion, once and for all.

The moment he turned his back, a splotch of ink dripping made him jump. Then a sigh. A _very_ weak one, which made him froze once again. "No, it can't be," he told himself. "He was gone, forever." But the sigh went louder and he simply couldn't hold his curiosity, so he turned around like anyone would do.

 **Bendy the Dancing Demon was taking his form bit by bit from the puddle.**

Ink was still dripping from every limb the cartoon demon had, and Joey was agape as its face began to show up. A few moments later, almost all of the ink toon was complete, except its visage. Seeing that, Joey went from delight to worry. _What if Bendy's face a real demon one instead of his lovely pie-cut eyes and a grin as wide as a Cheshire cat?_

He turned out being wrong.

Slowly but surely, Bendy's eyes fluttered open and his mouth spread into his trademark grin.

"J-Joey?" the cartoon demon spoke, pretty much in the voice Joey wanted; not too squeaky and quite a sound to his ears, in fact.

The young man was in the bridge of crying again, but he stopped himself and said,

"Welcome to the real world, Bendy."

\- just a little bit of my thoughts that Joey created Bendy in the 1960s ;)


	2. The Secret: Part One

**There will be some headcanon in this fic from the fandom (mostly from Tumblr XD) and also a homage to the whole story that we had known so far.**

 **Also, this fic have different timelines, don't be surprised if there are multiple Joeys and other characters in here XD**

 **The characters' personalities and details here were only my speculations, so don't be mad if they're not like what you expected :p**

 **Special thanks to ToonyTou on Tumblr for allowing me to use his design of Wally Franks in this chapter!**

 **On with the show!**

 **Six years later…**

"I told you to pick us up earlier, Sammy! Would you look at the time right now? It's almost closing time!"

"Not my problem. At least I brought you all here to the hospital."

"Yeah, but -"

"Will you two just be quiet already? This is a hospital, gentlemen!"

"But Susie -"

"Shhh!"

The whole crew of Joey Drew Studios were standing by the bed of an ill Joey Drew, who was sleeping, including three of which were cartoon characters; Bendy the Dancing Demon, Boris the Wolf and Alice Angel, all had a distraught look in their faces.

"Joey," spoke a man with light brown hair, whose name was Henry. The bedridden Joey woke up and blinked his eyes several times before replying weakly, "Oh, hello, Henry." His eyes then trailed on the rest: Sammy Lawrence, Susie Campbell, Norman Polk, Wally Franks and of course, the living toons he had created a few years ago. "Hello, everyone. How's your day, guys? All good?"

The five humans glanced at each other, bewildered with their boss's statement. _They_ were the ones who should ask the question, not Joey. The ink toons were puzzled as well.

Nevertheless, Wally said, "Yep. It's pretty good in the studio. In fact, we just finished a new episode! Though -" the janitor suddenly caught Sammy's piercing green eyes were on him and went quiet.

"Anyway, what does the doctor say?" said Henry hastily, trying to cover up for Wally. "Any good news?" "He said I'll be fine in a few days. But he recommended that I should stay at home for a while before coming back to work," the man in the bed explained.

"You surely do need some rest, Joey," said Susie, "especially your leg." All of them took a sympathetic look at Joey's left leg, which was bandaged.

Joey's leg was broken when he was fixing one of the leaking pipes for the Ink Machine nearby the stairs which led to the Music Department of his studio. The time he reached out for his wrench, he lost his footing and slipped before falling downstairs. Luckily, Sammy, who had a break from his work heard him and went for his help along with the rest of the crew.

To be honest, it had been a week since Joey was admitted to the hospital.

"You don't look so good, Joey," the head of orchestral performance of the company, Norman voiced. "Are you sure you're fine? I mean, you look very pale."

"There's nothing wrong with me, Norman; you must be seeing things," joked the black-haired man, but everyone there knew he was just hiding the fact; he did look like he was about to faint at any moment.

"Well, what do you know; visiting time is almost over," interrupted Sammy flatly, glancing at the clock hanging on the wall, which showed the time was almost six in the evening. "We better get going before the nurse kicked us out of here," and Bendy snorted in amusement. He had always liked Sammy's sarcastic attitude, but simply couldn't put a finger why the music composer was sour almost the whole time.

"Well, thanks to _you_ , Sammy. Also, that was my catchphrase!" exclaimed Wally and Sammy rolled his eyes. "You're not the only who claimed it was your favorite line, Franks," replied the blond man and walked out of the room.

'Wait, what? Hey, Sammy! _Sammy_! Come back!" But the door was closed before Wally could finish his words.

The janitor fumed a bit and muttered, "I still don't get on why he's such a killjoy. I mean, he was grumpy 24/7! Can you believe it? Like at one point I was simply asking him about his day and-"

"Oh, come on, Wally; we knew that already," Susie comforted him and began pushing him out, tailed by Alice Angel. "See you again tomorrow, Joey. Have a good rest." She then swung open the door and left as well along with Wally. The others who were still in the room could hear the dark-haired youth ranting on Sammy even a minute after he left.

"I'll see you guys outside," spoke Alice and the female toon followed suit.

The only ones in the room who weren't leaving yet were Norman, Henry, Bendy and Boris.

Norman cleared his throat before patting Joey lightly on his back and said, "Well, hope you're getting well soon, Mr. Drew. The studio's not the same without you. Say, Boris, wanna come along with me? I'll buy you a drink if you want."

The toon wolf's pie-cut eyes lit up when he heard it. "Y-you mean it, Mr. Polk? I-I don't want to force you, but -" Boris quivered. "Not buts, Boris; let's go right away! We surely don't want Sammy give us another of his rambles, am I right?" With that, the jovial conductor dragged Boris out and Joey cut in, "Bendy, why don't you join Norman? I need to talk to Henry for a while. In private."

"Joey, I think he needs to be here, on….whatever it is that you wanna talk about," Henry said, and he was quite confused. Why would Joey want to talk to him alone?

Then again, they were partners since they were teenagers. Joey was interested with his drawings and convinced him to join his cartoon studio, literally named "Joey Drew Studios". At first Henry thought Joey's last name was a joke, but immediately regretted it after telling the pun to the rest of the newly founded crew. He even had a mental vision that Joey would fire him and he would be sent back to his lame normal days, doing nothing.

But even the black-haired man laughed at the mention of his surname, and he felt the burden on his shoulder was lifted a bit before they began talking about other bad puns involving writing utensils and such, and they eventually became best friends.

 _No wonder that Joey had selected me out of the others to have this…little chat_ , Henry thought.

"But Joey, I want to stay here!" The squeaky voice of the Dancing Demon snapped the brown-haired man back to reality. He went to look for Norman and Boris, but apparently they had left (mainly because they knew it will take a long time for either Joey or Bendy to stop). "You've been away for so long; we miss you!"

"It's only a week ago, Bendy," Joey reassured the toon but Henry knew it was useless. Bendy was stubborn, much like Joey himself. Henry chuckled a bit as he continued to watch the small argument between the man and the toon demon.

"Bendy, perhaps it's better if you're not here," he finally broke into the fight. "Joey and I have something important to talk about." "Not you too, Henry!" Bendy said in bewilderment. "I'm afraid it is. Tell you what, take this" -he handed Bendy a couple of bucks- "and buy anything that you want. Then go home along with the others."

"What about you?" Bendy voiced his concern. "I'll catch a bus, a taxi, something else," explained Henry. "Now go before Sammy leaves."

"Fine." The living toon sighed and slouched as he headed toward the door and eyed the two men before closing it.

Henry went to the window to see if Bendy did obey him, and to his surprise, the ink demon was joining the whole crew and hopped into Sammy's car. He went on watching as the red car exited the parking lot.

"Alright Joey, what is it that you had in your mind right now?" the brown-haired man then broke the silence and turned his head to Joey. He immediately sensed something was not right with his boss; his face was much paler than when Norman pointed out about it.

"Joey!" Henry shook the patient's shoulders to snap him out of his thoughts but to no avail. "I will call for the doctor!"

"No!" Suddenly, Joey grabbed his shirt. "I need to tell you something, Henry." "Yeah, about what?" the man was getting rather impatient. "About the toons."

That perked Henry's attention.

"The toons?" he repeated. "You mean…Bendy, Boris and Alice?" "Yes," replied Joey.

"You better tell me ahead; I haven't got time for any drama you're gonna pull up next, Drew," Henry said and Joey loosened his grip before letting go of his friend's shirt.

" _They will be gone, Henry. Soon._ "


	3. The Secret: Part Two

Henry's eyes were wide in absolute horror as his mind processed on what Joey told him just now:

" _You mean...Bendy, Boris and Alice?"_

" _Yes."_

" _They will be gone, Henry. Soon."_

 _Soon_ , the word echoed in his head. _Soon_. The three cartoon characters that had been living with them for six years, will _die_? All those cheerful spirits they had brought into the once bankrupt animation studio, will _disappear_?

"YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME, JOEY DREW!" Henry shouted and grabbed Joey's shirt collar. "What makes you say things like that? They're toons, Joey! They –they ought to live longer! Like –other cartoons! There are always people who will remember them! They will live within those minds…am I right?" He stared into his boss's light blue eyes; the eyes that were once filled with determination and joy. Now, they were surrounded with fear and self-blame.

"You don't understand, Henry," said the man in the bed. "This is not like those we drew all night and day -"

"I know that, Joey!" Henry burst into anger. "What I'm trying to say is, they will live as long as we remember them, isn't it, Joey?" He was still rather confused with the whole thing about Bendy, Boris and Alice would die.

No. He hated the word. _Disappear_ sounded like a better word to suit the situation, but he still didn't like it.

"It is not, Henry."

An eerie silence surrounded the patient room they were in.

The two men gazed at each other; one was petrified and the other was in the brink of breaking down.

"What do you mean, Joey?" the brown-haired man whispered, almost in disbelief.

"I will tell you, Henry," Joey replied with a hint of shame, "but let go of my shirt first."

Henry released his grip and his boss sighed, straightening his body up and cleared his throat. 'Got some paper and a pen?' he asked nonchalantly.

 _What a question_ , the animator almost rolled his eyes when he heard it, _especially in this type of situation_. But he did bring some paper in his pockets and his favorite black pen was in his breast pocket.

"Alright Joey, tell me what is this all about," he gritted his teeth as he took out his pen. "And it better be the truth." "Of course, my good man," Joey smiled weakly and Henry just suppressed his thoughts of slapping his boss for not being serious with him.

Within half an hour, Joey Drew told everything that happened prior six years before; the downfall of their studio because of such competition from their rivals, which led to the building's abandonment. Henry almost dozed off; he had already knew about this. Sure, he did make some good money with his arts, but to be not in the studio surely sucks.

Joey Drew Studios was his second home, along with the rest of the human crew.

But when Joey started talking about how he had an idea of bringing the toons to life, his ears perked up, and before he knew it, he was jotting down every fact and detail that Joey told him of the process. From his boss's research of examining life to his deal with the gods.

The last part was surely unexpected.

"You made a deal with the gods?!" Henry shouted. "Well, there's no surprise there! You have always got that fascination with life; but going to this length-" He massaged his forehead, trying his best to conclude the facts. "What is your deal with the gods?"

'The concept of the deal is simple, Henry, just like our life in fact. God gives us life and we will live, until the day we died. As of this deal, the gods gave me the knowledge and power of creating them to life and when the time comes, they will take it back." Henry knew 'them' in the explanation was the toons and he felt quite awful that Joey referred them to such. Nevertheless, he was about to cut in but Joey continued with a rather crazed look:

"Along with me, and them."

Another silence occurred.

A second later, Henry exploded in fury.

"Got anything else, Drew? Like, you're bargaining your life as the exchange for the living toons? Or that if you die, they will be the same?" he babbled with such sarcasm. Boy, if Sammy was in the room, he was surely proud of him.

'Both are correct,' answered the patient and Henry slumped on his chair in shock.

"Why didn't you tell any of us about this?" the brown-haired hissed.

"It's supposed to be a secret!" "Then why are you telling me this?"

"Because I'm hoping you can continue my legacy, Henry," said Joey and he suddenly wheezed, which surprised Henry and he rushed to his friend's side, who brushed his hand away.

"Go, Henry," Henry could barely hear Joey's words between his short breaths, "the time has come. You need to replenish the deal."

"But how?" asked the standing man. "By making you their owner. Now go, it's almost midnight anyway."

"Joey -" Henry was soon cut off by the ailed man who uttered, "You will regret you didn't go sooner, Henry." Then he passed out.

Henry wanted to stay but his boss's words haunted him and he, after taking a second glance rushed out of the patient room, gripping the papers in his hands hard.

"No running in the hospital, sir!" a nurse called out as he passed but he was too focused on his task that he almost didn't realize he was already outside of the hospital and standing in the middle of the road.

A pair of yellow headlights momentarily blinded him and he shielded his eyes, thinking that it was his last day. After a while, he timidly peeked through his hands and saw an elderly man stuck his head out of his car as he lowered his arms. "Need a lift somewhere, young man?" he asked with a little smile.

"Joey Drew Studios, please," said Henry as he hurriedly entered the car, "and step on it." "Will do, sir," the driver chuckled before revving up the engine of his car and sped along the street.

It turned out the old man was quite an experienced racer back in his young days and Henry had to hold to the seat every time the car made a lurch at a corner. The animator kept glancing at his watch; only about ten minutes left to midnight.

"You seem to be in a rush, young man," the man spoke wistfully, "Someone's in danger?" "Yeah, you can say that," replied the brown-haired weakly. His heart was hammering loudly in his chest and his hands were shaking; he wondered if he could make it or not.

 _Almost there_ , he thought as he noticed the driver entered the junction where the studio was. _Only three minutes left…_

But out of sudden, the car spluttered and both men jumped upon hearing the sound. "Looks like ol' Luke did it again," the elderly man sighed miserably after he stopped the car and turned to Henry. "I'm sorry, lad. I'm afraid you gotta walk from here on."

"It's OK sir, you've helped me enough," Henry smiled and handed out some wads of money. "Here's for Luke." "Thank you, young man."

With that, Henry stepped out of the vehicle and began running toward the animation studio he had worked as long as he remembered.

The papers rustled in his grip and his face was grim when he took a look at his watch; he couldn't make it in time, unless there was a miracle. And to be honest, he wasn't really into miracles.

But then he spotted the usual yellow-orange light that shone at the end of the street and his hopes strengthened; it looked like he had a chance to save the toons. "Bendy, Boris, Alice!" he called, "I will save you all!"

Not a second later, a loud chime started to resonate around the place, causing Henry to wonder for a while before realizing with a hit in his head; it was already midnight.

"Come on Henry, you can do it! Just need to reach the studio before the chime ends!" he shouted as if to give himself some spirit. "They're relying on you! You can do it!"

The chime from the town's clock tower went on…

 _Ten…_

 _Nine…_

 _Eight…_

Henry's eyes lightened up as he saw the "Joey Drew Studios" sign ahead of him.

 _Seven…_

 _Six…_

 _Five…_

Only a few more steps, he thought. His knees were in such pain but he couldn't stop now. Not now.

 _Four…_

"Almost there…"

 _Three…_

 _Two…_

His right foot stepped into the entrance of the ancient-looking building and he swung open the door, when he heard a woman's scream.

"Alice! Alice, stay with me! Oh, Alice!" the voice shrieked in anguish. Eyes widened in horror, Henry rushed to the second floor and witnessed the sight he knew he would not forget any sooner.

Susie Campbell was caressing the female angel-demon, who was already melting halfway. Boris the Wolf was being held by Norman Polk and Wally Franks, while the little dancing demon, Bendy was…

Henry was in shock as he gazed ahead; the toon demon was rushing toward him, half of its face was covered with ink. "Henry!" it called in his childish voice. "Wh-what's happening to us? Where's Joey?" Black blots of tears fell out of his pie-cut eyes. "Please Henry, help us! Are we going to die?"

"You won't die, Bendy!" Henry reassured the demon, his eyes were filled with fierce determination. "Joey gave me instructions on how to replenish you all; I will do it right away!" His hands were smothered with drips of the black liquid from the living toon, but he didn't mind.

His spirit was crushed at that exact moment.

The living toons' figures were already losing; he could hear Alice Angel and Boris bade goodbye to everyone, telling them they had lived the best six years of their life, even though it was short.

"I don't WANT TO DIE!" shrieked Bendy upon hearing his friends' words. "I want to see the world! I want to explore every part of the place on Earth! I want to be with all of you! Don't you want us to be here, Henry? ANSWER ME!"

"I do, Bendy! I really do!" Henry replied in tears. "We all love you, Little Devil Darling!" Everyone else was sobbing in each other's embrace.

"Then promise me one thing, Henry…"

"What is it, ol' buddy?"

" _ **Bring us back to life…exactly how we look, we feel, we see…**_

 _ **And especially our memories…"**_

"It's a promise, Bendy," Henry held out his pinky finger and wrapped it around what's left of the demon's hand. "I swear my descendants and I will look after you three, forever and ever…"

"You promised us, Henry," Bendy let out his last laugh before dissolving into a large puddle of ink along with Alice and Boris, "And a demon never forgets a promise…"


End file.
